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Trump fires Rex Tillerson as secretary of state

US President Donald Trump has fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, naming CIA Director Mike Pompeo as his replacement.

Thanking Mr Tillerson for his service, Mr Trump tweeted that his new top diplomat would do “a fantastic job”.

Mr Tillerson, a former chief executive of ExxonMobil, was only appointed to the job just over a year ago.

The president also nominated Gina Haspel to become the first female director of the CIA.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday, Mr Trump said his differences with Mr Tillerson came down to personal “chemistry”.

“We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things,” said the president.

“When you look at the Iran deal, I think it’s terrible. I guess he thought it was OK.

“I wanted to either break it or do something and he felt a little bit differently, so we were not really thinking the same.

“With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. I think it’s going to go very well.

Mike Pompeo

“Rex is a very good man, I like Rex a lot.”

Mr Tillerson is the latest in a long list of senior officials who have either resigned or been fired since Mr Trump took office.

Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!

The Department of State said Mr Tillerson had not spoken to the president and was “unaware of the reason” for his firing.

Under Secretary Steve Goldstein said: “The Secretary had every intention of staying because of the critical progress made in national security.”

Mr Goldstein himself was fired later on Tuesday by the White House.

Goldstein took office as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Political Affairs in December. He previously served as Assistant to the Secretary and Director of Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

According to the Associated Press, White House chief of staff John Kelly called Mr Tillerson on Friday and advised him to watch out for a presidential tweet about him.

Mr Kelly did not tell Mr Tillerson when the tweet would be posted or what it might say, reports the news agency.

The secretary of state was on an official tour of Africa last week when he was caught unawares by Mr Trump’s agreement to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The top US diplomat’s team said he was feeling unwell on Saturday and later in the weekend the state department said he would cut short his tour by a day.

“I felt like, look, I just need to get back,” Mr Tillerson told reporters on his plane home, reports the Washington Post.

The 65-year-old arrived back in Washington before dawn on Tuesday to learn he was out of a job a few hours later.